Miraculous feat saves 5-year-old

In one of the rarest surgeries performed in the city, a five-year-old baby who weighed just 10 kilograms, Parvati Rohra has got a fresh lease of life. The surgery was risky as a liver transplant and an open heart surgery was performed in quick succession.

According to Dr Manish C Varma, Head of the Liver Transplant Department, Apollo Hospitals, Parvati was suffering from a rare genetic disorder called Alagille Syndrome that affects one in a lakh children and can impact the liver, heart, lungs, kidneys and bones.

She had advanced liver cirrhosis, severe cardiac defects including pulmonary artery hypoplasia, pulmonary valve dysplastic, atrial and ventricular septal defect. Compounding the problem was her weight.

With no history of such an operation performed in the country, a team of doctors specialisinng in multiple ailments performed the surgeries. During an eight hour cardiac surgery performed on January 23 by Dr Girish Warrier and his team, the holes in the heart were closed, Pulmonary Artery was widened, Pulmonary valve was excised and an artificial flap valve was created.

After 12 hours a live donor liver transplant was performed by Dr Manish Varma and his team, using a part of her mother's liver. The baby has since recovered and was discharged on February 7. The multi-disciplinary team consisted of Dr Manish Varma, Dr Girish Warrier, Dr Anand Khakhar, Dr Anand Ramamurthy, Dr Mahesh Gopashetty, Dr L Sasidhar Reddy among others.